


Back to Halloween

by triggeringthehealing (froggydarren)



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: FBI Agent Stiles Stilinski, Getting Together, Halloween, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-07
Updated: 2017-11-07
Packaged: 2019-01-30 19:50:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12660279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/froggydarren/pseuds/triggeringthehealing
Summary: Derek loves Halloween. He always did, even as a kid, and costumes were always conveniently easy as long as he remembered not to visit the same houses every year. Years passed, and he didn’t get a chance to do anything for quite a few of them. Maybe now that he has a house that he can decorate, it’s time to try again.





	Back to Halloween

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Weekend Writing Marathon Flash Ficlet prompt: Halloween

Derek doesn’t talk about it much, like he doesn’t talk about any of the things his family used to do before the fire. But they all had their traditions back then, and celebrated on more than just full moons. 

He used to love Halloween growing up. Even when he was a teenager, when a lot of his friends got to the stage of feeling like they’re too old for dressing up and trick-or-treating. He didn’t do that often once he hit his teens, but there was a lot of satisfaction in going out the first year when he was able to do his Beta shift. After that he had maybe a little too much fun handing out sweets and scaring kids with his fangs and blue eyes. Laura even made him do it after they moved to New York, and it was one of the few highlights of his years between the fire and his return to Beacon Hills. 

He missed a few of those after Laura died, because of the mess that was going on in town and outside. But when everything settled, and the year rolled slowly towards October, Derek started itching to find a place that would have at least a small amount of trick-or-treaters likely to knock on his door. Though he wasn’t quite willing to settle in one place yet, still too busy roaming around the country as he was helping Scott fight against the rogue hunters, he did like the idea of a base. 

“I didn’t think you’d find something in an area this populated,” Stiles tells him when Derek gives up the address and invites the pack over for a housewarming — Scott’s idea, not Derek’s. 

“It’s convenient,” Derek says easily, like it’s not a big deal.

It isn’t, not anymore. He’s long past being the loner he was years ago, when he first came back to Beacon Hills. And he’s not  _ in _ Beacon Hills now, instead his new house is in San Francisco — close enough that he can drive to where he’s needed, far enough to give him the freedom and solitude that he does continue to appreciate. 

“It’s nice.”

“Thanks,” Derek says, ducking his head as he smiles. 

It’s not the first time that the pack shows up at his place. Over the next few months, they all visit on and off, sometimes after a fight they’ve gotten involved in, other times when they’re passing through the city. 

Stiles is the one who shows up most frequently, and as time flies by, his excuses grow less convincing. 

“I was in the area,” becomes the norm, and Derek never calls him on the obvious lie. 

Because Stiles doesn’t live in the city, and while the FBI has offices there, they’re nowhere near Derek’s house. Derek suspects that Stiles knows that Derek is aware of this, but neither of them bring it up, even when the visits grow to weekly ones. Eventually, Derek isn’t even surprised when he realizes that there are clothes that most definitely belong to Stiles in his laundry, books strewn over the office that he wasn’t reading, and that he started shopping with the plan to cook for two at weekends at the very least. He isn’t even shocked when he realizes that he spent several months in a row in the house without the itch to travel.

He does, however, find himself a little out of his depth when he ends up sitting on his sofa, Stiles’s head in his lap, comforting him after a mission gone awry. He’s not  _ bad _ at comforting, he just isn’t sure where the line is with Stiles specifically. They’re somewhere in an awkward place where Derek’s been harboring a crush on Stiles for longer than he cares to admit to, and a partnership that they’ve honed to almost perfection when they’re on pack-related adventures. 

“Thank you,” Stiles whispers after they’ve been there for some time, just quietly ignoring whatever it is that’s playing on Derek’s TV. 

“I haven’t…” Derek starts, but freezes when he feels Stiles try to shake his head.

“You’re here, that’s enough,” Stiles says, twisting so he’s looking up at Derek, the back of his head on Derek’s thigh. “It’s just shitty when things go bad, and it’s not like I can really  _ talk _ about stuff that’s classified. But you get it. And sometimes it’s enough to just… be here,” Stiles finishes. 

“Yeah. It is,” Derek says.

He’s a little stiff and tense as he sits there, wondering where to put his hands and how to avoid touching Stiles in ways that might not be appropriate. Even if he wanted to, he’s not completely sure where Stiles is relationship-wise, and most definitely doesn’t know if Stiles would be even remotely interested. 

Stiles was, once upon a time. When it was still way out of the realm of possibility, when Stiles was way too young and they were too busy running for their lives or ducking bullets and monsters. Not that the latter has improved even now, but they’re a little more in control of the attacks, and none of them have been at  _ the pack _ specifically, not for the past year at least. 

“I’m glad you’re here,” Stiles says. “I mean, that you didn’t pack up and leave us to deal with everything. That you keep coming back.”

“Did you think I would?” Derek asks, surprised.

“Kind of, I guess. I expected you to. It would’ve been the sane thing, honestly, for all of us really. Scott can’t go, my Dad won’t, but the rest of us, I don’t know, we all have sort of left, haven’t we?”

“So did I,” Derek tells him. “I’m not back in Beacon Hills.”

“Yeah, thanks, I noticed that,” Stiles says with a frown. “But the rest of us have reasons to go back there. You don’t.”

Derek lifts an eyebrow. “What makes you say that?”

“Well, I mean, we know that you guys can be pack without being  _ near _ the pack, so that’s not why you’d need to be back,” Stiles says. “Cora is still in South America, somewhere. Not that she tells me  _ where _ ,” he adds, rolling his eyes. “And well, the trouble is not in town anymore.” 

“Doesn’t mean I can’t show up when Scott and the pack need help,” Derek tells him. 

“Yeah, but you show up in  _ Beacon Hills _ ,” Stiles says. “Whether there’s trouble in town or not. You’re forgetting I have an in with law enforcement there,” he adds with a grin. 

“I don’t go back for Beacon Hills,” Derek grumbles. 

“What are you coming back for, then?” Stiles asks, his voice soft. “You don’t  _ need to _ , not anymore.”

Derek hesitates. A few years ago, the answer would’ve been “Scott”. A few years ago, he kept coming back to help the pack settle and to help Scott establish himself as the Alpha of the territory. That’s not true anymore though, and he guesses that Stiles of all people knows this better than anyone else. 

He’s still thinking when he feels Stiles turn around, the back of his head digging into Derek’s thigh. 

“Hey,” he says when Derek looks down. “What were you planning to do for Halloween?” 

It throws Derek a little, the change of topic out of the blue while his mind is still lost in thoughts about what being this close to Beacon Hills means. 

“I used to dress up all the time with Scott, even when we were getting too old for it,” Stiles says, and Derek chuckles.

“I believe that,” he says. 

“Free sweets, man,” Stiles says unapologetically. “Also, Dad was almost always on duty that night, or Melissa was, and it was easier to get rid of both of us than try to entertain us on a night like that.” 

“When did you grow out of it?” 

“Who says I did?” Stiles grins. “I still dressed up when we stayed in to give the treats out. During college, Scott had way too much fun with the werewolf thing.”

“I did that too,” Derek confesses quietly. “Even after… in New York, and in Beacon Hills.” 

“Dude, can we do that? I can’t get back home this year, too many of the guys in the office have small kids, and they have priority. But I can be off duty for a few hours in the evening,” Stiles rambles. “I could dress up as… wow, I have so many more monster options now,” he says. 

Derek shudders as he thinks of some of the options. But not at the thought of getting the house decorated, at having a bowl of sweets ready by the door and being prepared to Beta shift when the doorbell rings. He knows the area well by now, and he knows that there will be kids coming around the house. 

“Yeah,” he says while Stiles is still lost in thought. “Yeah, we can.”

The blinding smile that Stiles gives him is proof enough that he made the right decision. 

“Hey, since you’re so agreeable tonight,” Stiles starts, and Derek narrows his eyes. “Would you also agree to me taking you out for dinner? A movie maybe?” 

There’s a hint of hesitation in Stiles’s voice, and his heart is rabbiting in his chest. 

“Like a date?” Derek asks, unwilling to risk misreading the situation.

“Yeah.” 

“Not on Halloween though,” Derek says with a small smile.

“Nope. We’ve got kids to scare then,” Stiles says. 

There are a few beats of silence, and then Derek nods. 

“Yeah. Yeah that would be great,” he says, and then he’s got Stiles’s face turned towards his abs, arms wrapped around his waist. He can only barely hear the muffled “awesome”, but he does, and it makes him laugh. 

It’s gonna be a fun Halloween.

**Author's Note:**

> [my tumblr](http://froggydarren.tumblr.com/) || [my sterek fic tumblr](http://triggeringthehealing.tumblr.com/)


End file.
